Fisher's family intent on keeping wedding private

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood are going to great lengths to keep their wedding private and the local hockey star's family is honouring their wish.

News broke across the entertainment world in the past week suggesting the country music superstar and former American Idol winner and Fisher, a Peterborough native who plays for the Ottawa Senators, will be married Saturday. Reports from various sources suggest it will be at an undisclosed private resort and wedding guests won't know their destination until they arrive at airports on Thursday.

Jim Fisher, Mike's father, admits the attention which comes from their son's engagement to an entertainment superstar has brought a whole lot more attention than their family is used to.

"This is a different ball game for us," Fisher said. "We're learning the ropes here."

He said the family will make no comment on the wedding plans until the wedding is over. He wouldn't confirm or deny the reports suggesting any comment would be construed as validating the reports.

"I'm not going to comment whether it's this weekend or not," said Fisher. "There has been so much stuff written and some of it is true and some of it is not."

The lack of details being given out by the couple is more a case of privacy than secrecy, he said.

"To me there is a difference between secrecy and privacy. It has been kept private because they're two private people themselves. The media can spoil it for them," Jim Fisher said. "We're doing everything we can to keep their special day special and without interruptions from the media who will go to no ends to get a story, get a photo, whatever."

The family hasn't had a lot of input on the wedding plans as the couple is taking care of most of it themselves, but Jim says it has proven to be a challenge keeping the details quiet.

"It's new to us, too. It's a whole new challenge. We're just doing whatever we can to keep their day special," he said.

That's not to say the family isn't thrilled and excited about the impending nuptials.

"We're very excited and happy for them," he said.

This will be the family's second wedding. Greg (Bud) Fisher, the youngest of Jim and Karen Fisher's four children, became their first to be married last summer. The 23-year-old Greg is a mortgage specialist in Ottawa.

"We were really happy for (Greg). He married a wonderful, beautiful girl," said Jim.

The couple's other two children Rob, 32, and Meredith, 27, remain in the Peterborough area. Mike is the couple's second oldest child at 30.

The whole clan will be at the wedding, but when and where that is won't come from the Fisher's lips.

"We'll, probably, have more to say after the wedding," said Jim.

Mike Fisher couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

NOTES: Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood first met at one of her concerts in Ottawa in 2008. The couple got engaged in December 2009.